Literary agent Charles “Chuck” Verrill died on January 9 after a long illness. After working as an editor at Viking, Verrill joined Liz Darhansoff’s agency and became a partner in 1991. Verrill was best known as Stephen King’s longtime agent and editor. King wrote on Twitter, “It leaves a huge hole. I loved the guy.” Darhansoff & Verrill will continue to carry his name, and a memorial service will be held later this year. “We’ll so miss his wise counsel and sardonic wit,” Liz Darhansoff said in a statement.
Obits
Obituaries: Ben McFall, Peter Shepherd
Ben McFall, 73, the Strand bookstore’s longest-tenured bookseller, died on December 22 at his home in Jersey City. Peter Shepherd, 91, literary agent at Harold Ober Associates from 1971 to 1995, died at his home in St. James Long Island on December 28. Among his clients were the estates of F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner, New Yorker writers Joseph Mitchell and Whitney Balliet, and journalists Robert Sam Anson and John Maxwell Hamilton. He also served as president of the Association of Authors Representatives.
Obituaries: Joan Didion, and More
Joan Didion died on December 23 at her home in Manhattan of complications from Parkinson’s disease. Didion was the writer of Slouching Toward Bethlehem, Play It As It Lays, The White Album, and other novels, works of nonfiction, and films. Born in Sacramento in 1934, Didion began her career writing for magazines including Life and The Saturday Evening Post. Her 2005 memoir The Year of Magical Thinking won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2007, she received the National Book Foundations Medal for Distinguished […]
Obituary: Eve Babitz
Eve Babitz, 78, author of memoir Eve’s Hollywood and novels including Sex and Rage and L.A. Woman, died on December 17 at U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications of Huntington’s disease.
Obituary: bell hooks
bell hooks, 69, author and feminist critic, died of renal failure on December 15 at her home in Berea, KY. She was the author of more than 30 books on gender and race, including Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism and We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity.
Obituary: Anne Rice
Author of INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Anne Rice, 80, died on December 11 from complications from a stroke, her son Christopher announced on social media. “As my mother, she taught me to embrace my dreams, reject conformity, and challenge the dark voices of fear and self-doubt,” he wrote. “As a writer, she taught me to defy genre boundaries and surrender to my obsessive passions. He said that a public celebration of Rice’s life will take place in New Orleans next year. “This event…will invite the participation of her friends, readers and fans who brought her such joy and inspiration throughout […]